In 2010 and 2011, the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA), the US Navy, and Maryland Historical Trust (MHT) conducted archaeology surveys in the Patuxent River on a War of 1812 shipwreck. This blog documents our underwater archaeology surveys.

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July 14, 2011

North End of Wreck Found

After the first week of excavation, we have found the northerly end of the shipwreck. There seems to be some damage to it, but we are unsure if the damage is from age or from the actual scuttling of the vessel 200 years ago.

Dr. Susan Langley gets help with her equipment from assistant state archaeologist Troy Nowak.

At the end of the day, diver Dan came up to explain what he felt while dredging away the sediment and exposing the wreckage. The visibility is terrible, and it takes effort to even see your hand in front of your face--visibility is only about a foot.

Now that we have one end of the wreck defined, our goals will be to find the other end and excavate in the center to locate the hold. Tomorrow our SHA surveyors will be out on the site shooting in one end of the wreck as well as other points marked in the river by our archaeologists.

3 comments:

I was out kayaking today (put in at Jug Bay and headed upstream), and came across your work site. I rounded a bend in the river, saw this big thing right in the middle of the river, and started wondering how (and if) I could get around it. Dr. Langley come to the side of the platform, introduced herself and gave me a great explanation of what the excavation is all about. As it turns out, my wife had already bought me a book that Dr. Langley recommended (Tidewater Time Capsule). I guess I'd better sit down and read it! I'm looking forward to following your progress and reading more about the events that led to Scorpion's untimely end.